The College of William & Mary Successfully Deploys Aerohive Controller-less Wireless LAN Architecture to Support 802.11n Network

The College of William & Mary Utilizes Aerohive's HiveAP and Hive Manager to Provide Full WLAN Coverage Throughout New Facility

SANTA CLARA, Calif., February 24, 2010 — Aerohive Networks, creators of the award-winning cooperative control wireless LAN (WLAN) architecture, announced today that the College of William & Mary has deployed Aerohive's enterprise-class wireless solution for the University's new, three-story, 166,000 square foot facility that houses the school's Mason School of Business.

William & Mary has long been an early adopter of WLAN solutions. Several years ago, the University deployed an Airespace (Cisco) controller-based WLAN that has grown to 1000 802.11abg Access Points. However when they decided to deploy 802.11n in the new business school, they evaluated WLAN products from multiple vendors, including Cisco Systems, Meru Networks, Beldin/Trapeze Networks, Aruba Networks and Aerohive. Four key requirements were identified: support for 802.11n, reliability, the ability to integrate with the University's home-grown Network Access Control (NAC) system and ease of deployment and management. Of the vendors evaluated, all but Aerohive relied on a controller-based architecture.

"We felt that going forward with the controller model didn't line up with our desire to be more fault tolerant," said Norman Elton, Network Engineer and manager of the University's WLAN. "Aerohive provides centralized control and management. The access points communicate with each other, but there is no single point of failure for user traffic. That was really the clincher for us."

Approximately 100 Aerohive HiveAPs were easily deployed throughout the School of Business within a few days. According to Elton, "The engineer just hung them, plugged them in, and walked away." Managing the HiveAPs has been easy for William & Mary with the Aerohive HiveManager, which provides centralized configuration and monitoring and simplifies provisioning for system-wide policy management.

"Like many organizations, William and Mary completely reevaluated their previous wireless approach when moving to 802.11n," said David Flynn, chief executive officer, Aerohive. "Aerohive's distributed wireless LAN architecture aligned perfectly with the college's requirement for a secure, high performance wireless network that matched the fault-tolerance and resilience of their new switched infrastructure."

No Controller. No Problem. Enterprise-class WLAN Solutions from Aerohive
Aerohive's unique cooperative control wireless LAN architecture requires no network controllers or overlay networks. Instead, software in the HiveAPs enables them to self-organize into groups called hives. The result is a secure multi-service wireless LAN infrastructure that is able to support a vast array of wireless devices, application types, and service levels, with faster client performance, wire-like resilience, and lower capital and operational costs. HiveAPs support a wide array of access control and security functions, such as 802.11i, wireless IDS, stateful inspection firewall, 802.1X authentication, and guest access control, and integrate with third-party solutions, such as Microsoft NAP- and TNC-based systems, to enforce endpoint compliance checking.

About William & Mary
William & Mary is unlike any other university in America.

We're the second oldest college in the nation, but also a cutting-edge research university. We're highly selective, but also public, offering a world-class education without the sticker shock.

Our students are not only some of the smartest in the world, but passionate about serving others and serious about having fun. Our professors are teachers, scholars and research mentors, the cornerstone of a thriving intellectual community that produces experienced, engaged, successful graduates.

About Aerohive Networks
Aerohive unleashes the potential of enterprise Wi-Fi, enabling customers to stop buying copper, to move applications to the air, and to maximize workforce productivity. The company's award-winning cooperative architecture eliminates costly controllers, saving money and providing unprecedented resiliency, up to 10X better application performance, and an opportunity to start small and expand without limitations. Aerohive was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. The company's investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Northern Light Venture Capital. For more information, please visit www.aerohive.com or call 408-510-6100.